The resurfacing of rape allegations against Bill Cosby has plagued the comedian/actor in recent weeks, and he literally has nothing to say about it. In an interview with NPR’s "Weekend Edition Saturday," Cosby and his wife Camille appeared on the show to discuss their lending of artwork to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art. But when the conversation took a turn towards the controversy, Cosby immediately shut down. "This question gives me no pleasure, Mr. Cosby, but there have been serious allegations raised about you in recent days,” host Scott Simon said. Cosby’s response? Dead silence. Shaking his head, Cosby refused to offer a reply to Simon who attempted to ask the question again. "I'm in the news business. I have to ask the question. Do you have any response to those charges?" The actor continued to shake his head. "There are people who love you who might like to hear from you about this. I want to give you the chance," Simon said, only to receive more silence. Simon took to Twitter following the interview to share that his sentiments about having to inquire about the rape allegations:

I'll respond to @BillCosby questions later. For moment: yes, I hated to have to ask about charges in front of Mrs. Cosby.

Earlier this week, an attempt to allow his fans to create memes of Cosby went terribly wrong. He has since also cancelled his scheduled appearance (Nov. 19) on The Late Show With David Letterman. Listen to the NPR clip below.

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Cardi B continues to utilize all avenues of making longterm dividends. According to The Blast, the "Red Barz" rapper filed for a trademark of her infectious catchphrase "okurrr."

The news site states the mother-of-one will imprint the slogan on T-shirts, jackets, caps, dresses and other clothing items. She once described the phrase as a cold New York City pigeon, and it was featured in one of her first brand commercials with Pepsi that aired during the Super Bowl.

In a February 2019 cover story for Harper's Bazaar, Cardi B discussed her rise to fame and how her focus shifted from paying attention to gossip fodder to making longterm money moves that'll benefit her family.

"I feel like my life is a fairy tale and I'm a princess—rags to riches, people trying to sabotage. Before, I cared about everything—relationship, gossip," she said. "Now I don't feel like I have the time to please people. I don't care about anything anymore—just my career and my kid."

On the music side, the Bronx native recently released her collaboration with Bruno Mars titled "Please Me." The single serves as a follow-up to the remix of Mars' "Finesse" which took over the charts in 2018.

The migration of popular mixtapes from today's top rappers to streaming platforms has left room for error for those who produced the music we adore. This seems to be the case for Joey Bada$$, who has been accused of failing to pay for productions services by Chicago's brandUn DeShay.

DeShay, who also goes by the music alias of Ace Hashimoto, took to Reddit Wednesday (March 20) to share the lack of communication he's had with the Brooklyn's rapper camp over unpaid services. The songs in question are "School High" and "Last Cypher," tracks that were included on Pro Era's breakout compilation mixtape, Peep the Aprocalpyse. Originally released in 2012, the project featured members of the popular posse like Nyck Caution, Kirk Knight and the late Capital STEEZ.

Posted on the Hip Hop Heads channel, DeShay acknowledges the beats were free considering they were on free projects. With the move to platforms like Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music, the producer explained how he wasn't contacted for clearances or payment.

"I never asked for bread because technically no one was getting paid," he said. "Until recently (December 12/23/18) Joey re-released the PEEP the Aprocalypse mixtape on all streaming platforms. Therefore generating bread off streams and DID NOT ask my permission, did not do splits or even work out a deal to just buy my share of the publishing from me."

"I hate takin s**t like this public cuz usually I think that s**t is corny asf," he added. "But I'm still tryna avoid taking this to court to retrieve the [payment]. I hope Joey reaches back so we can figure this out... the "producer x rapper" relationship in Hip-Hop deserves some success stories."

Prior to his Reddit post, DeShay posted his frustrations on Twitter back in February.

https://twitter.com/acehashimoto/status/1098791440765743104

VIBE reached out to DeShay who declined to provide a statement on the matter. We also reached out to Joey, who hasn't responded at the time of the DeShay, who was also an original member of Odd Future, has produced the early projects of numerous acts like SZA, Chance The Rapper and Curren$y.

DeShay went on to share how he had a proper business dealing with the late Mac Miller when it came to his debut mixtape, Macadelic.

"He contacted me first about “Aliens Fighting Robots” and sent me paperwork!!!," he said. "We agreed on a price, permissions, splits and that was it. Everyone went home happy and you can now stream Macadelic on Spotify rn. Mac Miller handled his business properly. Be like Mac Miller."

Like DeShay previously stated, the relationship between rappers and producers has always been rooted in miscommunications and questionable deals. Producers like Kenny Beats and Bangladesh have expressed their frustrations over unpaid beats, specifically Bangladesh when it comes to his work with Lil Wayne. With streaming becoming a profitable tool for all aspects of song creation, the relationship should be mended sooner than later.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Wednesday (March 20) the nation would no longer sell semi-automatic guns and riffles. The sweeping legislation went into effect one week after an Australian man opened fire and killed 50 Muslim men, women and children.

"Today I am announcing that New Zealand will ban all military-style semi-automatic weapons. We will also ban all assault rifles," Ardern said at a press conference.

Prime Minister Arden said the new law would take effect Wednesday (March 20) at 3 PM local time and said dealers "should now cease" selling the guns.

"We will ban all high-capacity magazines. We will ban all parts with the ability to convert semi-automatic or any other type of firearm into a military-style semi-automatic weapon. We will ban parts that cause a firearm to generate semi-automatic, automatic or close to automatic gunfire," she continued.

The prime suspect in the attack reportedly obtained a gun license in 2017 and began purchasing more guns in the most following.

"This is just the beginning of the work we need to do," Ardern said.

The prime minister also noted that there are many in New Zealand who obtained their weapons legally and haven't used them for violence. She said a buyback program will be implemented at local police stations ensuring gun owners receive proper compensation for their weapon. Penalties will be put in place for those who don't participate.

The program may cost between $100 million and $200 million, but Prime Minister Arden says it's necessary "to ensure the safety of our communities."